From the shadows comes spy work to hearten Australians

We must never underestimate the critical importance of America and its intelligence network to our continuing security, writes Tony Parkinson.

America's Central Intelligence Agency is not in the habit of attracting favourable headlines. The very nature of the war in the shadows dictates that we will always hear more about failures than successes.

But the CIA's role in the dramatic capture in Thailand of Hambali, the operational chief of Jemaah Islamiah, reinforces two salient but often forgotten facts of life in this part of the world: first, the critical, continuing importance of the superpower to the security of East Asia; second, the tangible value to Australians of direct connections through the US alliance to the world's most capable and extensive intelligence network.

Some say the Howard Government's strong and consistent support for the US-led war on terror has heightened the risks for Australian citizens. This week US agents have turned that calculation on its head - delivering proof that, if anything, the reverse may be true.

The arrest and detention of Hambali is by far the biggest breakthrough in the investigation of the Bali bombings. It removes from circulation the main conduit for the export of al-Qaeda's poisonous fanaticism into South-East Asia.

Hambali served on the shura, or highest council, of al-Qaeda, alongside Osama bin Laden. An Indonesian, who trained in Afghanistan, he became one of the few non-Arabs to achieve that stature in the global terror network.

Obviously, snaring one dangerous individual does not eliminate the threat. But it represents a crucial advance, denying the al-Qaeda franchise one of its most adept, if vicious, strategic minds.

News of the Hambali arrest was jointly celebrated yesterday by senior Australian and US officials in Melbourne. Not with high-fives or hubris, but rather a palpable sense of relief. Almost two years after the September 11 attacks on the US, the alliance partners know there remains a long and difficult road ahead.

A high-powered contingent of 46 senior American policymakers and opinion leaders flew into Melbourne for the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, two days of private meetings, swapping notes with their counterparts in Australian politics, business, academia and the media.

This annual event allows for a rigorous stocktake of the alliance. Although, by tradition, the conversations are strictly off the record, the tone of the meetings suggested relations between the US and Australia were closer than ever.

George Bush and John Howard share similar perspectives on the challenges facing Western liberal democracies in the war on terror. Both have attracted the ire of the left intelligentsia for placing a higher premium on practical outcomes than the unperfected ideals of international law.

Critics of the Howard Government's foreign policy directions fall back reflexively on portrayals of Australia as a plaything of American global strategy. George Bush whistles, John Howard jumps - or so the caricature goes.

What is little understood is that subservience is not the price the Bush Administration asks.

Obedient lap-dogs may be a nice fashion accessory for the superpower who has everything. But, these days, with its armed forces at full stretch, Washington is more interested in allies with grunt. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage put the equation crisply: "It is not just a question of who supports our interests in the war on terrorism. It is a question of who is willing to take action in support of their own interests."

As Armitage acknowledges readily, the Howard Government is not in the habit of standing on the sidelines. There have been military commitments in Bougainville, East Timor and the Solomons; support for US action in Afghanistan; a string of counter-terrorism protocols negotiated with key Asian neighbours; extensive support for the post-Bali police investigation in Indonesia; boots on the ground in the US-led invasion of Iraq; and energetic diplomacy aimed at curtailing both North Korea's nuclear ambitions and its role in the global trafficking of missile technology.

Much of this has been helpful to US strategic interests. Now, the Americans have responded in kind. For no single event is more likely than the capture of Hambali to help reduce the threat to Australians as they live, work or holiday in Asia.